Which should we do: build a $22B wall or solve the nuclear waste problem? It seems the politics of this issue will kill your grandkids.
"America’s Intractable Nuclear Waste Problem"
by Jennifer Savage May 08 2018
https://www.surfrider.org/coastal-blog/entry/americas-nuclear-waste-problem
"No one wants America’s nuclear waste in their backyard. Neither the people who’ve lived adjacent to nuclear power plants for decades, nor the citizens of the communities being considered as dumping grounds."
More.
"The U.S. Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) notes that the United States has over 90,000 metric tons of nuclear waste that requires disposal. As no site for permanent storage currently exists – despite decades of discussion – most of this waste remains stored in the 80 sites where it was produced. This means 35 of America's 50 states serve as interim homes to material that can pose a serious risk to humans, animals and the environment."
"Finding a Solution to America’s Nuclear Waste Problem"
by Michael Wallace, George David Banks and Alayna Rodriguez August 2, 2013
https://www.csis.org/analysis/finding-solution-america%E2%80%99s-nuclear-waste-problem
"Nuclear waste is a problem that’s here to stay and, if the radioactive isotope plutonium-239 is present, that means at least 24,000 years. We know how to manage it safely, but figuring out where to store it long term poses a substantial political test. Since President Obama’s January 2010 decision to withdraw the license application for Yucca Mountain, the challenge has become even more critical, especially as nuclear reactors continue to retire and spent fuel stored on-site is left without the appropriate fuel-handling infrastructure."
America is not ready to solve the issue.
"The Blue Ribbon Commission on America’s Nuclear Future (BRC), whose final recommendations were published in January 2012, concluded “this nation’s failure to come to grips with the nuclear waste issue has already proved damaging and costly and it will be more damaging and more costly the longer it continues: damaging to prospects for maintaining a potentially important energy supply option for the future, damaging to state—federal relations and public confidence in the federal government’s competence, and damaging to America’s standing in the world—not only as a source of nuclear technology and policy expertise but as a leader on global issues of nuclear safety, nonproliferation, and security.”"
